Sunday, May 30, 2010

A big week of gaming just passed, we had three games in three days. Thursday myself and Dave Stringer tested the new WAB2 rule set and Saturday myself and Craig Windebank played two small games (one of Fortune & Glory and the other Black Powder) both Napoleonic. However only managed to take images of our last game....sorry it was a late game of WAB2 on the Thursday night and I could not take any good shot because of the lighting and by Saturday my beautiful wife had the camera in the morning.

The Black Powder game however was well photographed, but the lighting was still a little dark, as it was a rainy day that day. The scenario was set for June 1815 and the British war withdrawing back onto the soon to be battlefield of Waterloo. Wellington has ordered an Infantry Brigade, supported by a Dutch Battery and a Squadron of Scots Greys to hold the road for a period of six turns. Lord Craig Windebank then formed his troops as best suited to defence and the terrain. He placed two companies of the 95th Rifles, the 29th Regt of Foot, a KGL Battalion and a half Battery of guns on his right flank. The on the left the 33rd & 59th Regts of Foot, a half Battery of guns and the Scots Greys. Hopefully this would hold the line and give Lord Wellington enough time to get the Army clear.

The 95th Rifles, 29th Regt of Foot, a KGL Battalion and a Half battery of Dutch guns hold the right flank.

The 33rd & 59th Regts of Foot, a half battery of Dutch guns and the Scots Greys on the left flank.

The mighty 33rd Regiment of Foot.

On the opposite end of the table General de Brigade Nathan Vinson deploys his mighty brigade. On the left he deploys three battalions of Legere, on the right three battalions of Ligne, a battery of light guns deploys on the only slight raise in the area and in reserve a regiment of Cuirassiers (gifted to him by the Emperor himself).

The French Foot Battery deploys and General de Brigade Vinson surveys the British deployment for any weakness.

The three battalions of Legere are ordered forward to take the small farm.

The Regt of Cuirassiers advance forward quickly hoping to catch the English in line.

During the first moves of the game I ordered this battalion to move straight up the road and into the farm. However rolling high only allowed me to make two moves, not quite what I needed. Craig moved 29th in on his next move and I was never able to take the farm back.

The next plan was to advance these boys in to attack the farm...it was a hard nut to crack.

The end of turn one saw my troops short of their first objective and Craig in holding the decisive ground.

However on the second turn the french took the offensive again. This time the heavy cavalry made a daring charged onto the Dutch guns and sabred them where they stood.

With the loss of the Dutch guns Lord Windebank orders his reserve of Scots Greys to charge the French Cuirassiers and successfully not only defeats the first two squadrons but they make a sweeping advance and crash into the next two squadrons and push them back as well.

The first two squadrons are defeated.

And so is the second.

On the third turn the French tried again to battle their way into the farm.

And on the French right a column charges in the 33rd Foot. Both attacks are defeated and pushed back...not looking good for the French today.

The charge of the KGL onto the Legere Battalion ends all French resistance on the right of the British line.

The 33rd Foot gives three load cheers as the French Infantry fall back in disorder.

However the French put in one final desperate attempt to push the British back.....they charge with the Heavy Cavalry.

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Just arrived - Leroy Simpson's' latest commission for Jeff Smith. Leroy has painted these great Calpe Miniatures Hussars as the 1st Silesian Hussar Regiment for the 1813/14 campaign. Jeff is a very lucky man and unfortunately for me he lives in North Queensland.

After playing a few games of Black Powder with units in big battalions, I decided that I need a few more Spanish Light Infantry if I was to fight on even terms with the French. So over the last three weeks I have managed to recruit and paint six more figures to go with the eight I already had. They figures come from the great Front Rank Spanish range and have been painted up as the 2nd Catalonian Light Infantry Battalion for 1808-10...love these figures. The basing is a little different from the old ones as Leroy Simpson had based those. The painting has however improved a little from when I did the originals back in 2005.

Andrew Parr and Adam Burke whipped the Battle of Barrosa last weekend and used Andrew's Fortune & Glory Rules to play the game. The Scenario was picked from General de Brigade Scenarios (book 1) and using the Army list for the units involved. The terrain that they played on has been slowly put together by Adam. I am not sure how much he has made, but I think what you see is only half...looks bloody good though. The figures are from Andrews' and Adam's collections and are based for any type of large battalion games -- General de Brigade - Fortune & Glory (big battalions) & Black Powder.

From what Andrew and Adam (pictured above) said of the game - it was very bloody - the French lost the battle however the English were also on their last legs.